The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments There is a line in Shakespeare, “Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.” Perhaps that is why I worked on this book for so long, accumulating many debts along the way. It began at Cornell University under the expert direction of Mary Beth Norton. Her support has been unflagging, her guidance essential, and her model combination of historian of early America and of women/gender has always inspired me. I have been incredibly fortunate to call her my adviser, mentor, and now friend. Cornell’s history department , from which I received generous funding, also afforded me the privilege of working with Rachel Weil and Margaret Washington, who also taught me much about the practice and the politics of history. The roots of my interest in early American history run deeper and farther south, to Southern Methodist University, where Edward Countryman and the late David J. Weber introduced me to the field and helped launch me into it, always keeping tabs on my trajectory. Without the material support from a host of generous institutions, and the research assistance of many expert archivists, librarians, and curators, this book would not exist. I am grateful to the American Antiquarian Society for a Legacy Fellowship that funded the project in its infancy and for the assistance of the institution’s tremendously knowledgeable and helpful staff, especially Georgia Barnhill, Joanne Chaison, John Hench, Tom Knoles, Marie Lamoureux, Russell Martin, Jackie Penny, Laura Wasowicz, and Bill Young. I also thank The New-York Historical Society and the David Library of the American Revolution, from which I received fellowships, as well as the Library Company of Philadelphia, who awarded me a Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Fellowship. There, the help of Jim Green, Nicole Joniec, Connie King, Phil Lapsansky, Charlene Peacock, Erika Piola, Nicole Scalessa, and Sarah Weatherwax was invaluable. I was especially fortunate to receive a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for a half year’s work in the collections at the retreat-like Winterthur Museum and Library. Curator of Costumes Linda Eaton patiently and expertly instructed me in the wonderful world of fabric. Ann Wagner helped with other fashion-related objects; Rich McKinstry, Laura Parrish, and Jeanne xii acknowledgments Solensky assisted with the library’s collections; and Kate Cooney covered rare books while running the fellowship program. The project also benefitted from the collections and staff of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and of the American Philosophical Society, namely Rob Cox, Roy Goodman, and Chuck Greifenstein. For assistance procuring images, I thank Jamison Davis at the Virginia Historical Society; Eleanor Gillers at the nyhs; Ryan Jensen at Art Resource; Jennifer Riley at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Giema Tsakuginow at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Over the years this book, like its author, has seen many locales and institutional homes. But it is the people of those places that shaped the work by enriching my intellectual life while providing moral support. At Tulane University they include Rosanne Adderley, Rachel Devlin, and Natalie Ring. At the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, I thank my colleagues in the history department, in particular Lisa Lindquist Dorr, Josh Rothman, and George Williamson. At Ohio State University, members of the lively history department, in particular Leslie Alexander, John Brooke, Alice Conklin, Steve Conn, Saul Cornell, David Cressy, Alan Gallay, Jim Genova, Robin Judd, Margaret Newell, Geoffrey Parker, Randy Roth, Jennifer Siegel, Stephanie Smith, and Judy Wu, created an intellectual and social home. For providing opportunities to circulate my work and for sharing probing questions and constructive comments, I thank members of the Women’s Studies Brown-Bag at the University of Alabama, the Early American Seminar at Ohio State University, and the Seminar at Johns Hopkins University. The book saw its final stages at American University, where all of my wonderful colleagues in the history department helped usher it to completion . In particular, fellow early modernists Andrew Lewis and Phil Stern gave generously of their time and thoughts, while Eileen Findlay and Pam Nadell served as supportive and inspiring mentors. I am especially indebted to our chair Bob Griffith, and to him as well as the rest of the department for authorizing support from the Patrick Clendenen Fund in the form of a two-year named professorship that afforded a reduced teaching load as well as additional research funds. That, and a generous Mellon Grant from the College of Arts and Sciences, made completing this book...